Public Speaking – Advice from a Poet

The classroom was brimming with quiet anticipation. Performers took last-minute scans of their selected poems before their awaited turn to get up to the front and share. For many, participating in the Poetry Out Loud (POL) Competition was their first time reading a memorized poem to an audience. For sophomore Heidi Chen, spoken word was familiar ground. 

“It felt like I was telling someone else’s story through my voice,” Chen reflected. Chen won the CVHS POL Competition on Jan. 12. After the school round, she and other winners from their respective schools will compete in the county’s tournament, and later if they are successful there, state and national competitions. 

“I heard about this competition through my English teacher, Mr. Dennis,” she said. “I always really liked reading poetry so I thought it would be fun to join.”

To compete in this poetry competition, participants had to choose, memorize, and perform two poems to a set of judges. Chen chose the two poems “I Am Offering this Poem” by Chicano and Apache poet Jimmy Santiago Baca and “I remember, I remember” by English poet Thomas Hood.

“I thought that the relationship between the poet and the poem was very touching and surprising,” Chen reflected on Baca’s poem. “He had a rough childhood, but in his poem he was able to write the words ‘I love you.’”

She chose Hood’s poem because she liked the repetition in the language and how it “felt very joyful in the beginning, but more towards the end, more melancholy.” She liked the contrast between those feelings the poem expressed.

In relation to spoken word, Chen first got into public speaking in eighth grade when she won first place in an essay competition which then allowed her to perform her work in front of an audience. 

“At that event,” Chen said, “I realized that public speaking wasn’t that scary, just something I needed to practice.”

Practice has gotten her to perform at the CVHS 2021 MLK celebration and compete in competitions such as the La Reina Spring Fling Tournament Speech and Debate Tournament where she won first place.

Chen is also part of the CVHS Speech Club, a community at the school which values public speaking. “I joined speech club last year and it really did help me and boost my confidence when it comes to public speaking,” she said. 

Now holding the title of Club President, Chen offered a way to help others gain that confidence like she did.

“If you are struggling with public speaking, or especially if you have school presentations coming up and you don’t know how to deal with that, join speech club and we can work on it together,” she said.

Chen described how public speaking is a skill that everyone needs to practice.

“Even celebrities and talk show hosts – they also practice. That’s why they’re good at it,” she said. 

Chen shared three pieces of advice on where to start:

“1. Practice good eye contact. I recommend performing in front of a mirror where you can stare at yourself, in front of family members or even stuffed animals, 

2. Understand tone and phrasing. I recommend listening to how other people use their tone and how they phrase it. If it’s something that you wrote, try recording yourself and listening back, seeing what you like best.

3. Memorize in chunks. With an essay, take it by paragraph. With a poem take it by stanza. Over a period of time you’ll accumulate stanzas and stanzas and before you know it, you’ll have the whole poem memorized.”

Chen reflected on her early experiences with poetry and spoken word.

“Back in elementary school when they would teach us rhymes, I would go home and try making my own poems. Looking back on those poems, they don’t sound good. The only thing that sounded good was the fact that every last word of every two lines rhymed,” she said.

As she’s gotten older, she’s gained a different view.

“But now I see that poetry isn’t only about rhyming. It’s more about your passion, your word choice, your phrasing, and your tone; It’s about the story and how you portray it,” she reflected.